Salt water ice making machine



March 21, 1967 L. A. STILLER SALT WATER ICE MAKING MACHINE Filed Jan.10, 1966 AUGER DRIVE FlG.i

/AUGER ICE MAKER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WATER PUMP l20-"ENGlNE INVENTOR.LEONARD A. STILLER ATTORNEYS March 21,1967 L. A. STILLER SALT WATER ICEMAKING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. l0, 1966 INVENTOR LEONARD A.STILLER 4/1 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,309,891 SALT WATER ICEMAKING MACHINE Leonard A. Stiller, Fort Lauderdaie, Fla., assignor toLasco Industries, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a corporation of FloridaFiled Jan. 10, 1966, Ser. No. 519,742 9 Claims. (Cl. 62-323) Thisinvention relates generally to ice making apparatus, and refers moreparticularly to a machine for making ice from salt water.

The present invention provides an improved machine for making ice whichis particularly adapted to be used on small fishing craft and similarinstallations.

It is an essential object of this invention to provide an ice makingmachine which utilizes its own source of power and does not require anyauxiliary equipment for the operation thereof.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ice making machinehaving a compressor 110, a condenser, an expansion valve and anevaporator, and also having a freezing chamber refrigerated by theevaporator and a rotatable anger in the freezing chamber for removingice formed on the wall thereof, with a single engine for operating boththe compressor and the auger.

Another object of the invention is to provide drives for operating thecompressor and for rotating the auger means respectively, and a singleengine for operating both drives.

Another object is to provide an engine output shaft, a clutch betweenthe shaft in one of the drives, the other of the drives being connectedto and operated from the first-mentioned drive.

Another object is to provide an ice making machine as hereinbeforedescribed including a Water pump having a water inlet, first outletpassage means from the pump to the water inlet of the freezing chamber,second outlet passage means from the pump to the condenser, and thirdoutlet passage means from the pump to the cooling system of the engine.

Another object is to provide an ice making machine wherein the enginehas an exhaust line, and means are provided for delivering the waterfrom the condenser and from the engine cooling system to the exhaustline.

Another object is to provide the exhaust line with a tank for thecollection of water to prevent back-flow to the engine.

Another object is to provide the outlet passage from the pump to theinlet of the freezing chamber with a pre-cooling coil surrounding theevaporator and vwith a reservoir, with means for closing the waterpassage when the reservoir contains a certain maximum amount of water.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent as thedescription proceeds, especially when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of apparatus embodying my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side View thereof.

FIGURE 3 is a schematic showing the coolant and water paths.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged view, partly broken away and sectioned, of theevaporator and freezing chamber.

'FIGURE 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIGURE 4.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the machine isgenerally designated and includes an evaporator and freezing chamberassembly designated 11, which will now be described in detail. Theassembly 11 includes a vertical cylinder 12, the interior of whichdefines a freezing chamber 13. This cylinder is preferably formed ofmetal having a relatively high heat conductivity.

An auger 14 is disposed within the freezing chamber in concentricrelation therewith. The lower end of the auger has a reduced portion 16which projects through the bottom wall 18 of the cylinder. A bearing 22in the bottom of the cylinder supports the lower reduced end portion 16of the auger for rotation. The auger will normally be turned on theorder of about fourteen revolutions per minute, but of course the speedmay vary considerably as desired.

The main body portion of the anger is spaced from the cylindrical wall28 of the freezing chamber. A helical rib or blade 26 is provided on thebody portion of the auger and extends substantially throughout the fulllength thereof. The blade 26 extends close to the cylindrical wall 28 ofthe freezing chamber to scrape ice formed thereon and elevate it fordischarge through the outlet 27 near the upper end of the cylinder. Abearing 30 supports the upper reduced end of the auger. The bearing isshaped with a cylindrical portion 32 spaced radially inwardly from thewall 28 of the freezing chamber opposite the outlet 27, and with anannular frusto-conical portion 33 for deflecting the ice through outlet27.

A chute 34 extends from the outlet 27 to a suitable collection bin.

Throughout a major portion of its length, the cylinder 12 is surroundedby a second cylinder in concentric radially outwardly spaced relationthereto. The annular space 42 between the cylinders 12 and 40 provides apassage for coolant. A suitable coolant such as Freon from a compressor,described more fully hereinafter, is flowed through the annular space42, entering through pipe 43 and expansion valve 44, and returning tothe compressor by way of pipe 46.

A helical member 48 surrounds cylinder 12 in the space between cylinders12 and 40. This helical member is in the form of a hollow tube ofuniform inside and outside diameter, and throughout its entire length isin continuous line contact with the cylinders 12 and 40. Tube 48 issealed at the ends to isolate the interior of the tube from the freonflowing through passage 42. The convolutions of the tube are spaced fromone another uniformly as indicated. The space between adjacentconvolutions is slightly greater than the Outside diameter of the tube43. The tube 48 occupies less than half the volume of space betweencylinders 12 and 46 so that the helical passage from inlet to outletdefined between the cylinders is greater than the space occupied by thetube itself. Since the tube 48 has substantially only line contact withthe cylinder 12, substantially the entire outer surface of the tube 12is exposed to the coolant flowing through the helical passage betweenthe cylinders. Accordingly, the reduction in surface area of thecylinder 12 exposed to the action of the coolant because of contact withthe helical tube 48 is extremely small.

As seen particularly in FIGURE 5, the outside Wall of the cylinder 12 isformed with a plurality of closely spaced annular grooves 49 concentricwith the cylinder axis, producing ribs or fins 50 between the grooves.The surface area of the outside wall of cylinder 12 is thereby increasedby the fin formations. Accordingly, a greater rate of heat transfer fromthe freezing chamber outward to the space between cylinders 12 and 40 iseffected. In this way the efiiciency of the freezing chamber and therapidity with which ice is formed, is increased.

Salt water is conducted through the pipe to the helical pre-cooling coil62 which surrounds cylinder 40. The pump 63 is provided to pump thewater into pipe 60. The outlet pipe 64 of the pre-cooling coil thenenters the reservoir 65. The reservoir is in the form of a cylinder 7i]and has a bottom plate 72 secured directly to the housing 74. A ring 76also surrounds cylinder 72 and likewise is secured to the housing wall.

The outlet pipe 64 leads into reservoir 65 and is controlled by a valve78. The valve 78 is connected to a lever 80 operated by a link 32 on thereservoir float 84. As the level of water in the reservoir rises, thefloat rises to close the valve 78 and shut off the outlet pipe 64. Asthe level in the reservoir drops, the valve 78 is opened. From thebottom of the reservoir, the pipe 86 leads to the lower end of cylinder12 to admit pre-cooled sea water to the freezing chamber.

The pre-cooling coil 62 is preferably separated from cylinder 40 by athin insulation strip of cylindrical form designated 90. Accordingly,the salt water is pre-cooled before it enters the freezing chamber, butthe insulation strip prevents the salt water from becoming frozen andclogging the pre-cooling coil. The insulation strip in some instancesmay be omitted, the cylinder 40 then being relied upon to providesufficient insulation between the pre-cooling coil and the space 42.

A cleaning pin 92 projects radially outward from the auger and then inan upward direction parallel to the axis of the auger. The cleaning pinis disposed adjacent the outlet 27 and has an upper end adjacent to andbeveled at the same angle as the frusto-conical surface 33. The cleaningpin is provided to break up and clear ice which may otherwise accumulateat the upper end of the auger so that it may readily be deflected by thefrusto-conical surface 33 out through the chute 34.

The coolant in the helical space 42 is preferably at a temperature suchthat the interior of the freezing chamber is maintained at about --50 P.which is a sufliciently low temperature to freeze salt water relativelyrapidly. The salt water is conducted into the freezing chamber throughthe inlet 86 and on contact with the wall 28 of the freezing chamber israpidly changed into a slush which is elevated through the freezingchamber by the blade or rib 26 of the auger for discharge in a chippedor flaked, but solid, state through the outlet 27. The freezing chamberis rapidly cooled by the passage of Freon or other suitable coolantthrough the helical space 42. The helical passage produced by the member48 causes a uniform flow of the coolant in contact with substantiallythe entire outer surface of cylinder 12. While inducing a helical flow,the tubular member 48 does not substantially reduce the surface area ofcylinder 12 in contact with the flowing coolant, because the member 48is of circular cross-section and has only substantially line contactwith the cylinder. Also, the total space between the cylinders, over anygiven length of the space, is reduced by less than half because of thecircular cross-section of member 48 and the fact that adjacentconvolutions are spaced slightly greater than the outside diameter ofmember 48. Moreover, the grooving of the outer surface of cylinder 12 toprovide the fins or ribs 50 increases the surface area of cylinder 12and promotes a more rapid transfer of heat from the freezing chamberoutward.

The housing 74 includes a cylindrical shell and end plates 102. The unitis enclosed with the housing, and the housing around the unit is filledwith a suitable insulation material 104. The end plates enclose and sealthe ends of the space 42 between the cylinders. The shell 100 and lowerend plate 102 have suitable openings to accommodate the pipes 43, 46, 60and 64.

The refrigeration circuit includes in addition to the evaporator and theexpansion valve, a compressor and a condenser 112 (FIGS. 1-3). Theoutlet pipe 46 from the evaporator 11 leads to the compressor 110 inwhich the coolant is raised in pressure. The coolant from the compressorthen goes by way of pipe 114 to the condenser 112 in which heat isremoved from the compressed refrigerant causing it to condense to aliquid. From the condenser the liquified coolant goes to the expansionvalve 44 through drier 115 by way of line 116. The drier removes waterfrom the coolant.

The apparatus or machine includes an engine which preferably is adiesel. The engine has an output shaft 122 which is connected to a shaft124 by a manually operatecl clutch 126. The shaft 124 leads to andserves as the drive for the compressor 110. The shaft 124 has a pulley128 secured thereon, and a belt 130 around the pulley operates a gearbox 132. A rod 134 between the gear box 132 and the auger 14 isconnected to the output shaft of the gear box and to the lower end 16 ofthe auger by suitable universal joints 136. In this manner, the dieselengine operates the compressor and also drives the auger. It will benoted that the diesel engine 120, the compressor 110, the gear box 132,and the condenser are all mounted on the same base 135 and form acompact unitary assembly.

The water pump 63 is also mounted on the base and is included as a partof the assembly. In addition to the outlet 69 from the Water pumpleading to the pre-cooling coil 62, the pump 63 also has an outletpassage leading to the cooling system of the diesel engine, and anotheroutlet passage 142 leading to the condenser. The water leading to thediesel engine is supplied to the cooling system thereof. The watersupplied to the condenser serves to cool the compressed coolant thatpasses thereto from the compressor and to liquify the same. There is asingle water inlet 143 to the pump 63.

The diesel exhaust line is indicated at 145. This line extends from oneend of the elongated cylindrical horizontal tank 146 mounted on the sideof the diesel. The exhaust from the diesel flows into one end of thetank via pipe 148. It will be noted that a water line 150 from thecooling system of the diesel engine connects into the exhaust outlet145. It will also be noted that the return water line 152 from thecondenser 112 leads to the exhaust outlet 145. The water from thecondenser and from the cooling system of the engine wet the exhaust asit discharges and assists in muffiing the discharge.

There is a valve 154 on the bottom of the tank which is opened when thediesel is stopped so that any water in the tank will be drained and willnot flow back into the engine. This valve is closed in operation. Thetank is provided so that any excess of water returning from the coolingsystem of the diesel and from the condenser will collect in the tankrather than back-fiow into the engine.

While the machine is especially adapted to use sea or salt water, freshwater may also be used.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An ice making machine comprising a cylinder defining therein afreezing chamber, means for admitting water into said chamber, means forchilling said chamber to form ice on the wall thereof comprising anevaporator surrounding said cylinder, an ice outlet from said freezingchamber, rotatable auger means in said chamber for removing ice fromsaid chamber wall and delivering the same to said ice outlet, anexpansion valve, a compressor, a condenser, means for conveying acoolant from the evaporator to the compressor, from the compressor tothe condenser, from the condenser to the expansion valve and from theexpansion valve to the evaporator, drives for operating said compressorand for rotating said auger means respectively, a single engine foroperating both said drives, said engine having an output shaft, a manualclutch between said shaft and the drive for said compressor, the drivefor said auger means comprising a gear box operatively connected to andoperated by the drive for said compressor, a connection from said gearbox to said auger means, a water pump, a water inlet to said pump, firstoutlet passage means from said pump to said means for admitting water tosaid chamber, second outlet passage means from said pump to saidcondenser, and third outlet passage means from said pump to the coolingsystem of said engine.

2. The ice making machine defined in claim 1, wherein said engine has anexhaust line, and means for delivering the Water from said condenser andfrom said engine cooling system to said exhaust line.

3. The ice making machine defined in claim 2, wherein said exhaust linehas a tank for the collection of water to prevent back-flow to saidengine.

4. The ice making machine defined in claim 3, wherein said first outletpassage means includes a pre-cooling coil surrounding said evaporatorand a reservoir, and means for closing said first outlet water passagemeans when said reservoir contains a certain maximum amount of water.

5. The ice making machine defined in claim 6, wherein said exhaust linehas a tank for the collection of water to prevent back-flow to saidengine.

6. An ice making machine comprising a cylinder defining therein afreezing chamlber, means for admitting water into said chamber, meansfor chilling said chamber to form ice on the Wall thereof comprising anevaporator surrounding said cylinder, an ice outlet from said freezingchamber, rotatable auger means in said chamber for removing ice fromsaid chamber wall and delivering the same to said ice outlet, anexpansion valve, a compressor, a condenser, means for conveying acoolant from the evaporator to the compressor, from the compressor tothe condenser, from the condenser to the expansion valve and from theexpansion valve to the evaporator, drives for operating said compressorand for rotating said auger means respectively, a single engine foroperating both said drives, a water pump, a Water inlet to said pump,first outlet passage means from said pump to said means for admittingWater to said chamber, second outlet passage means from said pump tosaid condenser, third outlet passage means from said pump to the coolingsystem of said engine, said engine having an exhaust line, and means fordelivering the water from said condenser and from said engine coolingsystem to said exhaust line.

7. An ice making machine comprising a cylinder defining therein afreezing chamber, means for admitting water into said chamber, means forchilling said chamber to form ice on the wall thereof comprising anevaporator surrounding said cylinder, an ice outlet from said freezingchamber, rotatable auger means in said chamber for removing ice 'fromsaid chamber Wall and delivering the same to said ice outlet, anexpansion valve, a compressor, a condenser, means for conveying acoolant from the evaporator to the compressor, from the compressor tothe condenser, from the condenser to the expansion valve and from theexpansion valve to the evaporator, drives for operating said compressorand for rotating said auger means respectively, a single engine foroperating both said drives, a single water pump, a water inlet to saidpump, first outlet passage means from said pump to said means foradmitting water to said chamber, said first outlet passage meansincluding a pre-cooling coil surrounding said evaporator and areservoir, means for closing said first outlet water passage means whensaid reservoir contains a certain maximum amount of water, and secondoutlet passage means from said pump to said condenser.

8. The ice making machine defined in claim 7, wherein a third outletpassage means is provided from said pump to the cooling system of saidengine.

9. The ice making machine defined in claim 7, wherein said engine has anexhaust line, and means for delivering water from said condenser to saidexhaust line.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,034,311 5/1962Nelson 62320 3,052,103 9/1962 Clark 62323 X 3,195,522 7/1965 Swenson62-323 X 3,209,550 10/1965 Charran et al. 62-323 X ROBERT A. OLEARY,Primary Examiner.

W. E. WAYNER, Assistant Examiner.

6. AN ICE MAKING MACHINE COMPRISING A CYLINDER DEFINING THEREIN AFREEZING CHAMBER, MEANS FOR ADMITTING WATER INTO SAID CHAMBER, MEANS FORCHILLING SAID CHAMBER TO FORM ICE ON THE WALL THEREOF COMPRISING ANEVAPORATOR SURROUNDING SAID CYLINDER, AN ICE OUTLET FROM SAID FREEZINGCHAMBER, ROTATABLE AUGER MEANS IN SAID CHAMBER FOR REMOVING ICE FROMSAID CHAMBER WALL AND DELIVERING THE SAME TO SAID ICE OUTLET, ANEXPANSION VALVE, A COMPRESSOR, A CONDENSER, MEANS FOR CONVEYING ACOOLANT FROM THE EVAPORATOR TO THE COMPRESSOR, FROM THE COMPRESSOR TOTHE CONDENSER, FROM THE CONDENSER TO THE EXPANSION VALVE AND FROM THEEXPANSION VALVE TO THE EVAPORATOR, DRIVES FOR OPERATING SAID COMPRESSORAND FOR ROTATING SAID AUGER MEANS RESPECTIVELY, A SINGLE ENGINE FOROPERATING BOTH SAID DRIVES, A WATER PUMP, A WATER INLET TO SAID PUMP,FIRST OUTLET PASSAGE MEANS FROM SAID PUMP TO SAID MEANS FOR ADMITTINGWATER TO SAID CHAMBER, SECOND OUTLET PASSAGE MEANS FROM SAID PUMP TOSAID CONDENSER, THIRD OUTLET PASSAGE MEANS FROM SAID PUMP TO THE COOLINGSYSTEM OF SAID ENGINE, SAID ENGINE HAVING AN EXHAUST LINE, AND MEANS FORDELIVERING THE WATER FROM SAID CONDENSER AND FROM SAID ENGINE COOLINGSYSTEM TO SAID EXHAUST LINE.